Deborah Vennos

Deb Vennos is a trial lawyer and a member of the Insurance + Reinsurance Group. Her extensive scientific experience (explained below) and experience in insurance coverage litigation provides a unique background for representation of insurers in complex insurance coverage and bad faith litigation, which typically involve a “case within a case.” Deb has advised and defended insurers in a wide range of coverage disputes, including, most recently, the defense of a $27 million business interruption and $150 million bad faith claim arising from Hurricane Katrina, which resulted in a voluntary dismissal after five years of litigation. She has also defended numerous multimillion-dollar coverage actions relating to corrosive imported drywall, catastrophic losses to manufacturing and industrial facilities, losses involving construction defects and mold contamination, sinkholes, fire and explosion losses, landfill business losses, and design defect claims.

Deb’s parents were strong believers of education being an important means of protection in the world, thus excelling at school was expected from her and her siblings. Deb completed college at the age of 18, graduating magna cum laude with a B.S. in chemistry from Towson State University in Baltimore, Maryland. She then went on to complete her master’s degree in chemistry at the age of 20 from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. By the age of 22, she was awarded a Ph.D. in chemistry from Cornell. Deb’s Ph.D. in chemistry provides a solid foundation for her focus on litigation matters involving scientific and engineering principles. After earning her Ph.D., she worked as a post-doctoral fellow at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey where she performed research in the development of new materials for use as optical fibers.

After her post-doctoral work, Deb decided to take a break from traditionally academic interests, and became a professional paid firefighter in upstate New York. She became a certified fire and arson investigator in addition to her full time work as an on-line firefighter. After 6 ½ years of firefighting, she decided to move on and go to Cornell Law School where she received her J.D.

When she is not reading cases and writing briefs, she likes to be outdoors with her children. Deb also loves gymnastics, and enjoyed seeing all of the talented and dedicated young men and women compete at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Next up, Rio!

Latest Articles

Back in March, our Data Privacy + Security Insider blog reported an increase in the use of commercial drones by State Departments of Transportation across the country. Now, insurance companies are also getting in the game. Using drones for underwriting, determining property values and conditions for policy issuance, inspections and risk evaluations may be more economical, may provide for better response times for inspections of insureds’ properties during a catastrophe, and may increase the safety…